Gig Review: Dinosaur Jr. At Troxy

Three decades on from Without a Sound, Dinosaur Jr prove their technical mastery is intact, even if the spark sometimes flickers.

Seminal alt rock band Dinosaur Jr are currently celebrating the 30th anniversary of their most commercially successful album ‘Without a Sound’ with a three month long US and UK tour. The band brings with them decades of experience, both as touring musicians and artists, casually tearing through their own discography without a sweat. Touring and live shows are clearly nothing new to the band, first made evident when they appear on stage and without a word launch into their first song ‘I feel the pain’. J Mascis, donning one of his iconic caps, begins to play the first riff to great excitement from the crowd, composed predominantly of middle aged men who have come with either their teenage children or large quantities of marijuana, but regardless are all equally thrilled to be there.

The band absolutely breezes through this first number, each member playing their parts as they have clearly done hundreds of times before yet without ever once acknowledging one another. While their experience performing live is obvious, it does unfortunately leave them and Mascis in particular, often looking rather uninterested on stage as though they are merely going through the motions. This by no means suggests that they lack stage presence, more that they struggle to maintain cohesion throughout their performance. While they each play their individual parts to a tee, it becomes difficult to feel as though they are truly playing together as a unit. The crowd however, is largely unbothered by this and by the fourth song ‘outta hand’ they are warmed up. The atmosphere is relaxed but excited, people are swaying to the song and beginning to move around more, a pit is threatening to form in front of the stage. By the time that the next song ‘grab it’ starts, the first crowd surfer has emerged and the atmosphere becomes a little more electric as Mascis aces another solo. Lou Barlow, bass down by his knees, plays impeccably. He both fingers and strums up and down the neck of his instrument in a fashion uncommon for a stingray bass, which houses its pickups at the bridge. By doing this he creates a tone that is subtler and less punchy than it otherwise would be while still maintaining a firm and distinct presence in the band’s overall sound. 

Before starting the tenth song of the set ‘seemed like the thing to do’ the band leaves the stage and only Mascis returns, he seems less tense as he speaks to the crowd for the first time during the set and proceeds to start his solo rendition of the song to applause from the crowd. Upon finishing, the rest of the band joins him on stage and they perform the rest of their set together and they finish playing through the album before starting on some fan favourites. They play ‘gargoyle’ as their final, pre encore song and do it to the utter delight of the crowd. The band are at their best here, essentially just jamming while using the song’s structure as a guideline. They manage to stretch the two and a half minute song into just over seven in a way that can only be described as masterful. Barlow, clearly enjoying himself, virtually bounces at this point while Mascis plays a lengthy, wailing solo. Murph also seems to be having more fun, becoming more animated while he plays through the number.

Upon finishing up their set, the band leaves the stage and return minutes later. They start their encore with ‘garden’ before asking the audience to request their next song, the audience picks ‘raisins’ and are clearly thrilled with the outcome. Most of the audience are dancing, some are crowd surfing and the band is playing like their lives depend on it. They finish up with a cover of The Cure’s ‘just like heaven’. The crowd erupts as the band finishes playing and exits the stage.

As a band that has been playing and touring for over thirty years, it would be hard to expect Dinosaur Jr to maintain the same degree of enthusiasm throughout their tenure. While the dynamic and group presence of the group is lacking, it cannot be argued that they are all exceptional musicians in their own right and that they can absolutely please a crowd of die-hard fans.